Strawmanning is very common. We've probably all done it. It’s still pretty lame. Over the past few years, I’ve been going down a rabbit hole trying to better understand Christian traditions I wasn’t familiar with—or, perhaps more accurately, traditions I thought I knew about. There are many positive threads I’ve discovered. One is that we tend to agree on the most important things, and many disagreements are relatively superficial. Specifically, most traditions still hold to the earliest creeds of the Church. This journey has, overall, strengthened my faith in the promises of Scripture.

One negative pattern I’ve observed is this: many Protestants repeat things they think they know about the Catholic Church—or about Catholics as individuals. The pattern often goes like this:

Usually, these statements come from pastors or other Christian leaders. On almost every account I’ve heard, the speaker is, at best, distorting what the Catholic Church actually teaches. I’ve heard countless statements like these throughout my life and been shocked at how often they’re false.

This isn’t unique to Catholicism. Many Protestant denominations do this to one another—Baptists versus Pentecostals, for example, or newer figures like John Mark Comer commenting on Calvinists. Of course, there are legitimate points of disagreement regarding Scripture and tradition. After all, this is why the Church is divided. But what’s truly unfortunate is that many claims are simply not accurate.

Let me be clear: the experiences an individual has with a church or group are just that—their personal experiences. If someone says, “I never heard X,” or, “The nun at my school was terrible and never showed the love of Christ,” I believe them. I’ve been in churches long enough to know they are full of broken people—sinners who mess up. Some aren’t even believers; some are wolves in sheep’s clothing. So, your experience may be true, but it doesn’t mean it represents the truth about that tradition.

Just because you heard X, Y, or Z in a particular context doesn’t mean you understood it correctly. It also doesn’t mean that it represents official teaching. I can promise you that if you randomly asked someone from any church a series of questions, their answers would rarely align 100% with official leadership statements—or even with what others in the same church say it teaches.

So, what’s the solution? I absolutely hate strawmanning. It’s not only lazy; it’s weak and renders your argument useless. Instead, go to the sources. Approach the church or its leaders and ask questions—not to debate, but to understand. Be curious. Pray, and ask the Holy Spirit for wisdom and discernment. Treat your brothers and sisters in Christ with respect and love. Isn’t that what Jesus told us to do?

There won’t be a Calvinist wing in heaven, nor a Pentecostal one. There won’t be Roman Catholics separated from the Eastern churches. We will all be united in Christ. Why not work toward that unity here on earth before the new heavens and the new earth are revealed?

What do I and so many other Christians need to do? Pray for the following.